How to Save a Life

Step one, you say, “We need to talk.” – The Fray, “How to Save a Life”

do you know where you were when you heard it were you alone at
your desk with a cinnamon coffee and a Dunkin Munchkin scripting
a pre-exam meditation or responding to a question about a son’s
plummeting performance

do you have the answers about why they do it is it their friends who read
it but fail to share it is it the pediatrician teachers or parents who don’t hear
the gravity of their intentions is it the therapists who miss the connections
while talking to their bedroom tablets

what about you did you see the signs did you hear the symptoms did you
take the steps did you ask the questions did you reconnect did you follow-
up did you have the training did you build a fence to prevent the falling

do you have a minute do you have forever do you have a hand do you have
a number do you have a link for a grieving mother do you have a group
for a younger brother

do you have a soul do you have a prayer do you have a story you can share
do you have a hope do you have a heaven do you have OK do you have
forgiveness do you have wings do you have sleep do you have a place to find
some peace do you have a God with guarantees do you do you do you

988 under S
in contacts
just in case

If concerned about yourself or someone else, call/text/chat 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, 24/7/365.

Maureen Martinez (she/her/hers) is a late-blooming, emerging writer and irreverent woman of faith working as the Director of School Counseling at an all-boys Catholic high school in New York City for over 20 years. Her work is published or forthcoming in Gramercy Review, Folly Journal, Boudin, Prime Number Magazine, Red Door, Washington Square Review, BAR BAR, Artemis, Creation Magazine, Please See Me, The Dewdrop and others.